I didn’t know anything about cars other than how to drive them until I recently empowered myself as a motorist by learning how to change a car’s oil. I watched an oil change instructional video on youtube.com. With tools, supplies and a little basic knowledge, I successfully performed my first oil change and stamped out some of my car maintenance ignorance. So if you have never changed a car’s oil and want to try, these steps will help.
The first step to changing your cars oil is to turn the car on and let it idle for 10 minutes, running the engine heats up the oil and helps the oil drain faster. Next, place the car ramps directly in front of the wheels so you can easily drive the front end of the car up the ramps and so that the car is securely in place while on the ramps. Once your ramps are in place, drive the front end of the car up the ramps. Park the car, engage the emergency brake, and turn off the engine. With a wrench set and an oil pan, crawl under the front of the car and look for the oil drain plug. If you can’t find it, look in the owner’s manual for a picture of its location. When you locate the plug, position your oil pan so that it will catch the old oil, and use the appropriate wrench to unscrew the plug. After the oil completely drains, clean off the oil drain plug and the drain plug opening before putting the oil drain plug back in place. Open the hood of the car and unscrew oil filler cap. Using a funnel, if you have one, pour 4 or 5 quarts of new oil (use the grade suggested in the owner’s manual) into engine. Check the oil level and adjust as necessary.
My car was running fine after the oil change. I felt more intune with my car than before because I changed it myself, I got to see underneath the car and unscrewed the oil drain plug. I even got dirty oil on me! In the past, I procrastinated from taking my car to jiffylube and now I am looking forward to changing my car’s oil again.
spiceynoodlesoup 